Parents’ Right to Know

No Child Left Behind Act

We are pleased to notify you that, in accordance with the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001, you have the right to request information regarding the professional qualifications of your child’s teacher. Specifically, you may request:

Whether the teacher has met state qualification and licensing criteria for the grade levels and subject areas in which the teacher provides instruction.

Whether the teacher is teaching under emergency or other provisional status through which state qualification or licensing criteria has been waived.

The baccalaureate degree major of the teacher and any other graduate certification or degree held by the teacher, and the field of discipline of the certification or degree.

Whether the child is provided services by paraprofessionals and, if so, their qualifications.

If you would like to receive this information, please obtain a form from the front office and return the top portion. If you have any questions, please contact the front office as well.

The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA)

The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) is a federal law that protects the privacy of students’ education records. FERPA gives parents certain rights with respect to their children’s education records. These rights transfer to the student at age of 18, or after enrolling in a school beyond the high school level.

The U.S. Department of Education has information about FERPA for parents and eligible students, including how to obtain copies of school records. If you have any questions, please inquire at the front desk.

3rd Grade Retention

According to Senate Bill 1258 and Arizona Statute 15-701, our school must retain any 3rd grade student who scores Falls Far Below (FFB) on the AIMS test. The only exemptions to this are if the student is an English Language Learner and has had fewer than two years of English language instruction, or if the student has a disability as defined in Arizona Statute 15-761 and the IEP team agrees that promotion is appropriate based on the IEP.

What does this mean? Our school will have strong intervention and remedial strategies put into place for your child if they are retained in 3rd grade. As a parent, you can talk with your child’s teacher and principal about options for your child’s support for the following year. Intervention and remedial strategies that may be used include assigning your child to a different teacher for reading instruction; summer school reading instruction; intensive reading instruction that occurs before, during, or after school; and/or online reading instruction. Your school has programs in place that they will assign your child.

When test scores are released in the summer, if your child tested in 3rd grade and scores FFB in the reading portion, you will be contacted through a phone call and/or letter which will inform you of the retention, as well as review the intervention pieces that will be in place for your child.

It is our goal to partner with you and make this transition as smooth as possible for your child. The goal is that your child will be a successful reader, which will provide them the foundation necessary to succeed in other areas of school. If you are unsure of how your child is doing in reading, please contact/email your teacher. Please email or call your principal if you need further clarification on this policy or any of the intervention pieces in place.

Move On When Reading

Arizona’s Move On When Reading legislation is designed to provide students with scientifically based reading instruction in kindergarten through 3rd grade in order to position them for success as they progress through school, college, and career.